Cito Gaston Is Running Out of Pitchers

Now that Cito Gaston has re-emerged from whatever cave he's been in the last eleven years to return as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, and put J.P. Ricciardi's job in serious jeopardy (okay, so Ricciardi is probably the one who put his job in serious jeopardy), he has to be wondering if he'll have any starting pitchers left at the end of the season. The way A.J. Burnett is ~~begging~~ talking, odds that he won't be a member of the Blue Jays after July 31 are looking pretty good. Jesse Litsch has followed up his 7-1 start to the season by going 0-3 with a 6.46 ERA in four starts this month.

Then there is that whole Roy Halladay taking a line-drive off his head incident on Friday night against the Pirates. Halladay left the game immediately and underwent a CAT scan. The scan showed no broken bones, and Halladay hasn't been experiencing any headaches or other signs of a concussion, so it's looking like he won't be missing his next scheduled start.

The same cannot be said for his teammate Shaun Marcum, who has been placed on the disabled list.

Marcum, second in the American League with a 2.65 ERA, was to fly to Florida on Saturday to be examined by Dr. Steve Mirabello. Marcum will also see noted orthopedic Dr. James Andrews on Monday.

"Hopefully, we'll get good news and then after 7-10 days of a rest period, we'll make a decision and go from there," Blue Jays pitching coach Brad Arnsberg said.

Marcum says that he's been experiencing pain in his right elbow the last few weeks, but that hasn't seemed to stop him from pitching well over that span. Gaston has made no announcement as to who will take Marcum's place in the rotation, the team called up outfielder Adam Lind to take his place on the roster, and they'll probably just bump A.J. Burnett up a day to take Marcum's place on Tuesday.